Sherwood Forest was burning.

The towering oaks of the ancient forest were crackling like so much kindling as Maria ran down the leaf-littered path. The flames licked at her heels, but she paid them no mind. All she could see was the path stretching out ahead of her, and far off in the distance, her goal.

//This is MY dream,// she thought in disbelief as a torrid tree-limb crashed to the ground just off the side of the path. The heat was oppressive, choking, but she ran anyway. //No,// she thought again. //This is my nightmare.//

She shuddered to think what Michael's would be.

Maria could still remember his bloodied form, motionless on the spotted tile. How long ago had that been? Hours? Days? How long before her spirit-self had drifted into sleep, still clutching his bloodied hand?

The jolt of red hot anger and ice-cold fear that went through her at the thought spurred her on, and she ran faster. He was there-- she knew it.

******

The encampment was in chaos. Women and children screamed as they ran past her, seemingly out of nowhere. Men fought the flames, but there was no hope-- the entire wood was an inferno. No one would escape. Maria swallowed, but pressed on into the camp.

"'Ere, you can't come in 'ere!" The sharply accented British voice to her left snapped her head around. A tall, thin man with sharp features was running towards her.

"Where's Michael?" she asked, panicked, as he drew up beside her.

The young man took her arm and began to lead her from the camp. "No time for games, Miss," he said, ignoring her struggles. "You've got to get outta 'ere!"

"NO!" she cried. "No, I said I wouldn't leave him!" She clawed at his hand. "Please," she begged, "please, just tell him Maria is here to see him. Please!"

The young man froze when he heard her name, and he spun around to face her. "Maid Maria?" he asked, eyes wide.

Maria didn't care what he called her, as long as they stopped moving. She nodded furiously, tears building in her eyes.

His jaw dropped. "I'm so...sorry, melady," he stammered, quickly releasing her arm. "I...I never meant no offense."

She waved off his apologies, and turned back to the chaotic village. "Where is he?" she asked.

When she received no answer, Maria spun around to fix him with a pointed stare. His brow was furrowed with insecurity. "Well?" she asked again, louder this time.

He paused for a moment, then answered her. "Melady," he said, "I can't bring you to him. This-- all this," he gestured to the raging fire that stretched up to heaven, "is goin' to come down on our 'eads, yer Grace. I can't bring you into that."

She stalked over to the thin man and glared up into his eyes. "I have news for you, beansprout," she growled. "I'm already here. And I'm not leaving." She watched him swallow. "Now take me to Michael."

He eyed her for a moment longer, as if assessing her capability for physical violence against him. He must not have liked the odds, because finally he nodded. "All right, melady," he said, shoulders straightening. "Never let it be said that Will Scarlet refused a beautiful woman's request." He flashed her a dazzling smile. "We're all goin' to die anyway, ain't we? Come on, yer Grace!" And he began to jog back the way they had come. Maria followed close behind, dreading what she would find.

******

ELSEWHERE.....

Isabelle was sleeping, but she was not very happy about it.

How long had she been wandering in this white mist? Shuffling aimlessly through the nothingness? Maybe this wasn't going to work. //It HAS to work!// she told herself firmly. //It HAS to. I KNOW I can get in!// She just had to find Maria's dream first.

Yeah. Real easy.

Isabelle had no idea where to look. They'd all left the Crashdown immediately following their conversation, and she'd come straight back to her room to sleep and test her hypothesis. Yes, she'd figured it would take a while to find the remnants of the Oz dream, but she'd never expected THIS-- hours of endless ambling on numbed feet. "Where the hell are you, blondie?" she muttered under her breath. "Give me a clue."

Sitting down on the arbitrary ground hidden beneath the swirling mist, Isabelle tried to collect her thoughts. There HAD to be a simple way to do this-- if Maria could fall through a conduit in the fabric of space, Isabelle could sure as hell find the Emerald City in a land of white. She just had to put her mind to it.

"Mind," she repeated to herself, turning the word over in her mouth as if she couldn't place its taste. "Mind, mind, mind...."

She had it.

The realization hit her so suddenly, she almost fell over. Her eyes widened, and for a second, she couldn't catch her breath. When she finally did, all she could think of to do was laugh.

It was so obvious! So damn obvious! What on earth was wrong with her? Well, besides the fact that she was on earth at all?

Closing her eyes, she imagined.

Opening her eyes, she saw.

"Gotcha," she whispered, before leaping to her feet and running full tilt down the twisting thoroughfare of the yellow brick road.

******

ELSEWHERE IN DREAMLAND....

It felt to Maria that they ran for a very long time, yet the fire that raged around them refused to ebb. It was as if the wood never charred, but continued to burn long after it should have stopped. Flames licked out from the towering inferno, torching dry wooden huts and rope bridges. A demo of Hell.

Maria stepped over the eviscerated corpse of a young man, barely glancing at his revealed intestines. She had seen enough like him already. The worst had been the mother-- that had made her ill. The mother who had tried to protect her two children from the falling tree branch that blazed down at them. The mother who had succeeded only to fail-- because she had been hit.

Maria swallowed as she remembered how quickly the woman had burned away to a cinder-- clothes first, then hair, skin melting away, until nothing but a charred skeleton remained.

She bit back the bile, and concentrated on Will Scarlet's back. He seemed to know where he was going-- she forced herself to trust him. But he was part of Michael's dream-- Michael's warped, pain-hazed nightmare. His defense mechanism. Anything could happen.

Eventually, they drew up outside a simple cloth tent, surprisingly untouched by the fire that raged around it. //He's here.// She knew it without thinking-- she'd always known it.

Will spoke quietly with one of the two men who stood guard at the thin flap that separated Michael's interior from Maria's death-ridden exterior. She wanted to scream-- to simply rush past them and find what awaited her within.

Will touched her arm, and she snapped back to reality. His eyes were compassionate, yet firm. "'E's hurtin' badly, melady," he said softly, yet somehow louder than the howling fire and the screaming children. "'E ain't expected to make it much longer."

Maria held in her tears. "Can I see him?"

He didn't say anything. But he released her arm and stood back.

Maria took that as an affirmative. Taking a deep breath, she walked slowly towards the tent flap, suddenly afraid of what she might find on the other side. With a tremblig hand, she reached out to twitch the thick fabric aside, and slipped through the narrow opening into darkness.

******

The blackness was almost complete. It gagged her, cloying fingers that raked down her throat and swirled in eddies before her eyes. So dark. So quiet. No noise-- not even the shrieking sound of the fire that raged outside. Silence. Dead silence.

And a single shaft of light.

Maria edged deeper into the tent that no longer existed. When she glanced over her shoulder, the tent flap was gone-- when she looked ahead, the blackness stretched to infinity. She wasn't in a shared dream any longer; somehow she knew that.

This was Michael's dream. And in his dream, he was alone.

Tears built in her eyes as she neared the shaft of white light where he crouched-- naked-- head resting on his knees. His bare back glimmered in the illumination. It came from nowhere specific-- Maria looked for its source, but there was none. It just existed.

"Michael?" she whispered as she drew closer. He didn't answer-- maybe he couldn't hear her. "Michael, say something," she said, louder this time.

He still made no sound.

Maria was beside him now, and she slowly lowered herself to the ground, just outside the circle of light that surrounded him. "Michael?" she breathed. "Please speak to me. Please."

He shook his head and wrapped his arms tighter around his knees, pulling himself into a smaller ball.

Maria swallowed back the lump in her throat, and murmured, "Is this how you see yourself? Alone?" She cast her eyes around the blackness, and felt a tear roll down her cheek. "God, how many times have you been here?"

"I'm always here." Michael spoke so softly, Maria would have missed his voice if she hadn't been listening for it.

She didn't reach out to him. Somehow she knew he wouldn't want her to. Not just yet. "What do you mean?" she asked instead.

Michael looked up then and stared off into the infinite distance. Maria felt her heart beat a little faster-- amazing how just his profile could make her breath stop. "Every night," he murmured. "Every night I've come here. Since the first night."

Her heart tore. She could feel it rip in her chest. "You're not alone, Michael," she told him softly. "You've never been alone. Max, Isabelle...Liz. Me." He looked at her then, and she managed a smile, despite her tears. "We are always here for you."

Michael's eyes pulled away from her then, and she choked at the loss of contact. "Not now," he murmured. "I'm by myself now. They even took you away." She saw a single tear slip down his sculpted cheek, marking a glistening path in the light, highlighting his vulnerability.

"I don't want to be alone anymore, Maria," he whispered. "I can't be alone anymore. I hate it here."

"I'm here with you now."

"This isn't you."

"Then who am I?"

"You're a dream."

"No I'm not."

Michael snorted and buried his face in his knees. "You're close enough to one," he muttered. Faintly, the light around him dimmed.

//He's giving up.// The thought burned through Maria like a poker. //My God, he's giving up.//

"Michael?" Her voice was high-pitched and panicked. "Michael? What's happening? MICHAEL?"

"I don't want to be alone anymore," he muttered again, and the light grew even fainter. "I'm tired of being alone. And I'm tired of hurting. I don't want to hurt anymore."

"MICHAEL!" Maria couldn't think. He was disappearing, being swallowed up by the blackness. She would lose him, and she couldn't take that. "Michael, PLEASE, don't do this!" she begged. "Please!"

And she reached out to him.

******

The instant her hand made contact, Maria felt the change. It would have bowled her over, but she gripped his arm tighter, and remained upright.

Pain. Terror. Loneliness. His floodgates were opened to her, and all the doors he'd locked suddenly unlatched to allow her in. She could feel everything-- beneath his true-body, the cold tile that never seemed to warm up; the hot stickiness of blood. The throbbing pain that never went away. The fear that Topolsky would come back; that he would never be able to move again. And worst of all, his terror for her. That he would never see his beautiful Mariaangel again. Mariavoice, Marialips, Mariafingers. That he had lost her forever. The words and sensations began to run together as the world turned hazy.

//NO!// Maria screamed into his mind. "//NO! Michael, please! Please don't give up! I promised I'd never leave you. You remember that, right? Why would I lie? You aren't alone! I'm here with you. I will ALWAYS be here with you!//

//Go away, Maria,// he replied, his mind speaking to hers. //If you're here when...it happens, you might....you might, too.//

//Michael, I will NOT let you die,// she told him, praying that she could make him hold on just a little longer...

//I don't think you can stop it, Maria,// he replied. //Besides,// he continued-- snorting-- his mind-voice sounding almost smug, //imagine the look on that bitch's face when her prized guinea pig dies by her hand. Her boss will give her hell for that-- maybe she'll be flayed. I could take seeing her skinless.//

Maria gripped him tighter. //Please, Michael,// she whispered. //Please. I'm scared to be without you. It's so cold there. I don't want to go back there and know you're gone.//

There was silence from him for a long minute, and Maria began to worry that he had drifted too far already. Until finally, he spoke.

//I feel you.//

It was sent with a sense of wonder. Of complete disbelief. Maria could feel it pouring off him in waves. //What do you mean?// she asked.

//I can feel you,// he repeated. It was the equivalent of a psychic whisper, but it roared in Maria's ears. //You're scared. You're lonely. Your legs hurt, but you don't care. You want me to...to touch you again. You think if I leave, you'll be all alone.// The next part came even quieter. //You...you LOVE me.//

Tears ran down the dream-Maria's cheeks. //It took you this long to figure that out, spaceboy?// she asked.

//W-why?// he asked her, and the dream-Maria's eyes saw the light around him grow brighter.

//Because I just do, you doof,// she told him. //Who knows the specifics? Because you kiss like you mean it, maybe. Because you argue better than anyone I know. Because everytime I see you-- in the halls at school, in a booth at the Crashdown, lying beside me on that damn cot-- all I can wonder is what my life might have been like without you. And all I can think is that I'm glad I never have to find out.//

//But...I dragged you into this. I hurt you.//

//You kissed me,// Maria replied, her free hand going to Michael's cheek and turning his face to look at her. His eyes were wide with the disbelief she felt coming off him. //You touched me so gently. You cared enough for me to try and protect me from your fear, your pain. You gave me your mind- let me see your dreams.// She stroked his cheek. //I think that outweighs a few bruises.//

Michael just gazed at her for a long moment. She could feel his emotions changing, but they were so confused, she couldn't tell them apart.

Until he kissed her. Then she coudln't feel anything but his lips.

//I realized something,// he murmured into her mind as his lips held hers.

//How can you think at a time like this?// she asked as her hands snaked around his neck.

//You always make me think,// he told her, and she could almost hear him grinning at her. //I've never seen anyone else here before,// he continued, wrapping his arms around her slim waist and pulling her body under the halo of light with him, so that she pressed against his bare chest. //It's always just been me.//

//Your point?// Maria's thoughts were a jumble of sensations-- his and her own.

//Maybe I'm not alone after all.//

Their lips separated. Michael gazed into her eyes, and Maria realized that the light which now surrounded them shone so brightly, it had destroyed the dark.

******

ELSEWHERE...

"Listen, little man," Isabelle said through gritted teeth to the munchkin valet on the other side of the door. "If you don't let me through this door, I'm going to get pissed. Have you ever seen me pissed?"

"I'm not allowed to let anyone in who isn't authorized," the valet told her, as if from some moral highground she could only hope to achieve.

Isabelle rolled her eyes. Time moved strangely in dreamland, but she knew she had to have been standing here for at least an hour, arguing with the damned munchkin behind the door. She'd tried the gamut-- smiles, flirting, pleading. Now it had degenerated into threats. Soon, it would be violence.

"Look," she said again, glaring at him through the little portal, "we both know that if this comes to a fight, I will SO take you down. So why don't we just cut the crap. Open the door for me, I'll go find Maria, and everybody's happy and still in possession of all their limbs. Sound like a plan?"

"You're not getting in."

"You don't seem to be listening."

"Neither do you."

"Why you little--!" Her hand reached for him, but her knuckles just made impact with the hard emerald of the shuttle-door as he slammed it closed. Isabelle sat back hard, shaking her hand and cursing.

"This is ridiculous," she muttered, standing up and brushing herself off. "There has GOT to be another way in." She began to look around, searching for a crack or fissure in the smooth emerald sides of the city.

"Do you promise to be good?" The voice coming from the door was different this time. Isabelle looked back at the little portal and jumped. The valet had been replaced-- now she was gazing into the kindly eyes of Glinda the Good Witch.

Figuring it was best not to stutter in this situation, Isabelle straightened her shoulders and nodded. "Absolutely," she told the lovely witch. "All I want to do is find Maria."

Glinda looked at her appraisingly for a minute, but finally smiled. "I believe you," she said cheerfully. Looking down at something behind the door-- supposedly the valet, she said, "Open the door, Wilberforce. Let the girl in."

Isabelle didn't allow herself a sigh of relief until she heard the lock tumble out of place-- barely masking the grumbling of the cranky valet-- and she saw the door swing open. "Thank you," she told Glinda as she started through the door, past the witch.

"We had to be sure," Glinda said, smiling brightly. "Back doors attract the strangest visitors, not all of whom have the best of intentions."

Isabelle smiled back. "I understand. And thank you again." Looking down at the valet beside the good witch, she chuckled. "Catch ya later, Wilberforce."

Ignoring his sputtering, she continued through the door and found herself in flames.

//This should be interesting,// Isabelle thought as she began to charge headlong through the raging inferno. //God, why can't they have NORMAL dreams, about sex and stuff, like everyone else? No, it has to be grumpy munchkins and forest fires!//

She growled under her breath as a burning tree branch fell across the path in front of her, forcing her to leap over it. //I swear,// she thought angrily as she rolled into a standing position and started running again, //If I get any more problems in this dream, someone is going to find themselves equipped with a brand new orifice, and I will personally rip it for them.//

******

"No one gets in to see the lord and lady!"

"GODDAMMIT!" Isabelle shrieked to the burning heavens. "What the hell is WRONG with all you people?" She turned her eyes back to the thin man-- //Will Scarlet. Robin Hood. Very cute.//-- in front of her. "Look, WILL," she growled, emphasizing his name, "I've already dealt with anal munchkins, suspicious witches, something that looked like a dead Celt being eaten by rats-- I don't even want to THINK about that-- and at least fifty people trying to keep me from getting this far." She glowered at him. "But they couldn't stop me, and neither can you. Now, I don't like to resort to violence, but if you don't let me into that tent, someone is going to find themselves very, very dead. And I DON'T mean me. Do we understand each other?" She arched a pretty eyebrow at him-- it helped her feel menacing.

He glared back at her. "Why should I let you in?"

Well, at least he wasn't flatly refusing anymore. That must mean SOMETHING. "Because it is a matter of life and death," she said. "Namely, theirs. Got it?"

Will looked closely at her for a moment. Lots of people seemed to be doing that lately-- it made Isabelle feel like a caged mouse.

Finally, he nodded tersely. "Very well, miss." He sighed. "I'll get meself flayed for doin' this, but I just can't resist the pleas of a beautiful woman." He moved the tent flap aside for her.

Isabelle rolled her eyes to heaven and mouthed, 'Thank you!' before moving towards the entrance. "Thanks," she said out loud as she moved past him.

He caught her arm, and she looked at him. "After all this is over, luv," he said suggestively, "if we get outta this alive, you think you might want to..." He twiddled his eyebrows.

Isabelle rolled her eyes and yanked her arm from his grasp. "You've GOT to be one of Michael's creations," she muttered, and breezed past him into the tent.

******

The light was so bright, it was almost blinding, but Maria didn't close her eyes. It would have meant she couldn't look at him any longer. She couldn't bear that thought.

//Do you think we should go back now?// she asked, gazing down at him as she cupped his face between her palms.

He shook his head and ran his hands up her back. She straddled his lap, her legs wrapped around his waist, and he gazed up at her in adoration. It made Maria glow, despite the light. //Not yet,// he told her. //I think we should stay here a little longer.//

She grinned. //I can take that,// she told him, and leaned forward to kiss him again.

"MARIA!"

They broke apart quickly, and Maria craned her head around to look over her shoulder towards the voice. That had sounded like...//Isabelle?//

//How did she get in?// Michael asked, confused.

Maria was about to answer that she didn't know, when the full import of the situation hit. Her eyes went wide, and she looked back at Michael in shock. //OHMYGOD!// she almost screamed into his head. //Isabelle found us!//

//This I gathered,// he told her. //Your point?//

//She must know...I don't know, SOMETHING.//

"MARIA!" came Isabelle's voice. "MICHAEL! Where are you two?!"

"Isabelle!" Maria called back. "We're over here!"

"Keep talking!" Isabelle replied, and Maria could hear her voice drawing closer. "That way I can find you!"

"How did you get into my dream?" Michael called, tightening his arms around Maria. He was afraid-- Maria could feel that. No one had ever penetrated his dreams before-- now two had done so in one night. It was a new and frightening experience. Maria held him closer, and rested her cheek on his hair, letting her contentment wash over him, soothe him.

"Trust me," Isabelle was saying. "That is a LONG story for another time."

There was a dark swirl in the bright light, and a flash of blonde hair. "Isabelle!" Maria called, before the other girl ran past them. "We're here!"

She saw the swirl stop, turn, and move closer, until it formed itself into Isabelle.

The tall girl looked down at them with an appraising eye-- Maria, dressed in green scrubs, and Michael, naked, twined together in the most suggestive of ways. She raised an eyebrow. "Well, I will admit, THIS is a bit of a surprise." She chuckled.

Maria started to stand, but the other girl held out a hand to stop her. "No, please," she said vehemently. "I'd rather not...see all there is to see."

Maria blushed, but Michael didn't. "Hey, Izzy," he said.

Isabelle smiled at him. "Hey, Michael. You've got us all worried, you know. Damn near gave us all a heart attack when you disappeared." Her eyes went to Maria's face. "You, too." She looked them over again. "Though you seem to have gotten on all right."

Maria blushed again, and she heard Michael's voice, teasing, in her head, //You look cute enough to eat when you blush.//

She looked him in the eye and leaned in close. //You look cute enough to eat ANYTIME.//

He grinned.

"Um, hello?" Isabelle's hand appeared in front of Michael's face, waving between the two of them. Maria looked up, and saw the taller girl looking at them, puzzled. "Did something just happen here, or did I become invisible?" she asked.

Maria bit her lip bashfully, and felt Michael's aroused reaction to the movement. It made her giggle. "Um, Michael and I...we can kinda...hear each others' thoughts," she explained. //And very naughty thoughts they are, spaceboy,// she sent to him.

//What can I say? You bring out the bad boy in me.//

//Can I get that in writing?//

"Would you two mind?" Isabelle cut in, and Maria looked back again, embarassed. "I'm here to try and save your lives, not watch you have ultra-cybersex."

"Save our lives?" Maria asked, feeling her own excitement mix with Michael's. "What...what do you mean? How?"

Isabelle smiled, and knelt so she was eye to eye with them. "I have a plan," she told them, and quickly described her idea for, as Max had put it, the telepathic tracking device.

"You mean, put ANOTHER psychic link in my head?" Maria asked dubiously.

Isabelle shook her head. "No, it's not like that," she said. "This is strictly about location-- I can't feel or hear or see anything you can, but I'll be able to find where you are."

Michael looked skeptical. "Izzy," he said. "None of us has ever done something like this before. How do you know you won't...permanently damage something? In you OR Maria?"

Isabelle bit her lip-- she'd obviously thought this same thing herself. "I don't think we have a choice," she said. "Unless you two know where you are?" At their silence, she continued. "Well neither do we." She shrugged helplessly. "We're out of options."

"Can you try it on me?" Michael asked, and Maria could feel his disappointment when Isabelle shook her head.

"Our minds are built differently, Michael," she said soberly. "Much more intricately-- that's why we have the powers we have. I don't know if I could find the right place to put the locator with you. With Maria, it's different."

There was silence amongst the three of them, and Maria knew she was the center of it. So she chose to break it.

"Let's do it," she said. //It's our only choice,// she assured Michael when he looked at her in protest. //I'll be fine. Isabelle knows what she's doing.//

//What if she doesn't?//

//Look what happened when YOU did it. I'm still alive and kicking, right?//

//You're also lying in a prison cell.//

//That's beside the point.//

"Can I cut in here?" Isabelle asked, drawing their attention to her. When they were looking at her, she sighed. "If you're sure, Maria, then we should do this now. The sooner I link you, the sooner we find you."

Maria nodded. "Go ahead, Isabelle." She smiled at the other girl. "I trust you."

Isabelle's eyes softened, and she leaned forward to place her palm on Maria's temple.

Michael's arms tightened around her waist as a faint glow built between Maria's cheek and Isabelle's hand. Maria could feel a tingling sensation against her skin, then deeper, in her skull.

Suddenly, there was a bright flash of light. Maria winced, feeling Isabelle's hand fall away. Looking up, she saw the other girl shaking her head, dazed. "Isabelle?" she asked. "Are you all right?"

"Izzy?" Michael sounded worried-- for both of them.

The taller girl took a moment to respond, but finally, she looked up. When she did, she was smiling. "Gotcha," she said softly, tapping her temple. "Gotcha right here."

Maria grinned. "It worked?"

Isabelle nodded, and leapt to her feet. "Oh yeah. God I'm good." She was beaming. "We'll be seeing you soon, guys," she said, dusting herself off. "REALLY soon." And she disappeared.

*******

When she sat bolt upright in bed, Isabelle became aware of three things very quickly.

One, it was almost dark outside, meaning she'd slept for several hours.

Two, Liz and Max were still sitting on the end of her bed, as they had when she fell asleep. Albeit, slightly closer to each other now. //God, I hope they weren't making out while I was busy saving the world,// she thought.

Three, she was smiling.

Max picked up on number three, and started smiling, too. "It worked?" he said softly.

Isabelle nodded.

Liz was smiling now. "You can find them?"

Isabelle nodded again.

Max stood quickly, helping Liz up. "Then what are we waiting for?" he asked.

Isabelle stood as well. "My question exactly," she replied. "Do you have the keys?"

******

Maria stared at the place Isabelle had been for a long minute.

//Whatcha thinking about?// Michael asked her.

She smiled, and looked back at him. //You know what I'm thinking,// she replied playfully. //Why bother asking?//

//Because I like to rile you up,// he replied with a grin.

She chucked him in the arm. //I just can't believe...we're almost home,// she told him.

His face grew grim for a second. //They have to rescue us first,// he reminded her.

Maria nodded, but she couldn't stop smiling. //I know,// she replied, pressing her forehead against his, //but they will. They'll save us. I know it.//

He smiled back. //Then I'll let your optimism carry us both,// he told her.